HUGEL, Agoria, Chambord, KATE ZUBOK, and Guy Gerber

France’s Sebastien Devaud, aka Agoria, has been an electro house DJ for quite some time, and has acquired quite a following. For the most part, he sticks to playing a lot of dance clubs, but on an international level.

Because of his reputation, an MC introduces him before he starts his live set. People crowd around as close as they can to watch him do his thing. Watching him as he flawlessly uses his equipment to produce music that people can dance to all night long. There are no interruptions because his transition between songs goes completely unnoticeable. He is obviously a master of his craft, and is in a complete state of concentration as he moves back forth from one side of the table to the next to make sure that every sound and every beat are played at the exact right time. The way he does things make it seem like what he does takes no effort whatsoever. He otherwise doesn’t move much, except for keeping the beat steady with his body. The people on the dance floor immerse themselves into the sounds, letting the beat be the one to guide their dance moves. Once the set is over, you can hear a small amount of disappointment because people want the party to continue.

I’m not easily impressed by live DJs although I love listening to techno and electronic dance music, so I was a little apprehensive when I went to see Guy Gerber perform live. I must say though, I was extremely pleasantly surprised at the awesome show he put on. The reason I don’t enjoy some of the DJ sets is because the artists pre-record all of their mixes and tracks, and simply switch between them in their performance, but Gerber was using live synths, mixers, samples, and even drum machines really using his talent to mix and create awesome music.

At the beginning of the set, he called out for everyone to ‘put your phones away, enjoy the vibe’, which was great, because I always think it’s a shame to watch a live show through a screen! The music started off pretty chilled out, and everyone was wandering round with drinks enjoying the vibe, and as he build up the tempo of the music, so everyone began moving forwards and dancing. He was really great at engaging with the audience, from everything to dancing along to his music, to calling out to see if we were having a good time. The tracks he played were a great selection of his own hits, such as Belly Dancing, to his collaborations and remixes, so there really was something for everyone.